


Nothing Wrong with You

by Multishipperlove



Series: Something Wrong in the Village [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Magical Transition, Mighty Nein mentioned, Other NPCs mentioned, Percy mentioned - Freeform, Trans Male Character, Trans Vesper Elaina, Vex'ahlia mentioned, spoilers for episode 91
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22360465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multishipperlove/pseuds/Multishipperlove
Summary: Even after living as his true self for the last eight years, Vesper isn't as far into his physical transition as he would like to be. Keyleth may have a way to change that.
Series: Something Wrong in the Village [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1609594
Comments: 2
Kudos: 63





	Nothing Wrong with You

**Author's Note:**

> So. This idea wouldn't leave me alone after the last episode. I'm not sure how much sense it makes if you haven't read "Somethign Wrong in the Village", so maybe do that first if you haven't yet.  
> As always, enjoy and please let me know what you think!

Vesper Leander was 23 when his aunt Keyleth came through the Sun Tree on a particularly rainy afternoon. That, in itself, was nothing new. The townspeople, the guards, every inhabitant of the castle, they were all used to her occasional visits, whether she let them know she was coming beforehand or not. 

But this time her arrival was a bit odd, even for Keyleth's standard. She didn't carry any luggage with her, in fact, she looked like she had just strolled through the Sun Tree with whatever she had on her. Even the black raven on her shoulder seemed a bit perturbed, as if it hadn't expect to leave Zephra that day. 

(The raven had been with her for as long as Leander could remember, and he was no stranger to having them around either. Even now, a few years after his “crisis”, they tended to be rather fond of him.)

Leander was the first to greet her, actually, coming to meet her on the way up to the castle as soon as the guards let him know that she was on her way. The heavy coat he was wearing protected him from the rain, at least a little, but he could already see that his aunt was soaked to the bone. Not that she seemed to care. 

“Keyleth!” They finally embraced, both smiling widely and holding on to each other maybe a few more moments than necessary. Leander was the first to pull back though. “It's so good to see you! What are you doing here?” 

“Let me get out of the rain before you start asking questions,” she joked. “And I could ask you the same. Usually it's your Mom and Dad who meet me here, where are they?”

With a chagrined smile, he motioned for her to lead the way to the castle, falling into step beside her. “Excuse my manners. Mom and Dad are taking the twins to Emon today, they're still looking for a suitable arcane teacher there. And Cassandra is in an important Council meeting, she asked not to be disturbed unless it's an emergency.” He gave her a curious look. “This- isn't one, right?”

“Oh, oh no,” she assured him quickly, shaking her head slightly and almost dislodging the raven again. “You're actually the one I wanted to talk to, I was just-”

“Me?” 

“Yes, you, don't look so surprised. But I wouldn't mind drying off first, maybe see some of your siblings if they're not too busy.”

Leander chuckled softly. “Busy, maybe. Too busy for you? Never. I bet I can even get Julius out of his workshop, that recluse, if I tell him you're here.” Part of him would have preferred to sit down with Keyleth by himself first, and get whatever she wanted to talk about out of the way. But if it wasn't incredibly pressing, he figured it was just fair that his siblings got to see her, too. 

They reached the castle doors, just as Keyleth muttered something about Julius coming after his father, and were let in quickly. It was warmer inside, and Leander handed the coat off to one of the servants that greeted them, before asking for towels for Keyleth and some tea to be prepared for them. She rolled her eyes about it, as always, but didn't seem to mind so much anymore when they sat in the cosy library slash living room shortly later, dry and with a steaming mug in front of them each. 

As expected though, they barely got five minutes of small talk in before the first of Leander's siblings joined them. Expectedly, it was Olivia. She didn't waste any time and immediately cuddled up to Keyleth, climbing in her lap and taking over the conversation by rambling on about her day, and the books she'd been reading, and that Mommy and Daddy were teaching her how to shoot now. 

Leander didn't mind. Well, not much. He had a soft spot for all his siblings, as annoying as they could be at times, and with Olivia still being so young he let her get away with a lot. Sometimes more than his parents would, really. 

Whitney was the next one to come around, and while she was usually more held back, Keyleth managed to bring out her more talkative side. Actually, Leander was pretty sure that his second youngest sister was eventually going to become a druid herself, what with all the flowers in her room and how she seemed to spend more time outside the castle than inside these days. Their mother still tried to argue the benefits of choosing a ranger career instead, but they all knew it was futile. 

And last but not least, Julius staggered out of his workshop, hands black with oil, or maybe soot, or maybe something else altogether. Leander wasn't all that sure. And Keyleth was right, about what she had said earlier. Julius was, for all but the white hair, the spitting image of their father. He even wore the same glasses.

Leander knew he should be better than that, but there were days where he couldn't help but be jealous of his younger brother. Brothers, actually, as looking at Freddy could cause exactly the same feeling. 

The potions he'd been taking for a few years now helped. His face had become sharper, his father's cheekbones coming through where he'd only seen his mother's softness before (not that a lot of people would say that there was anything soft about Vex'ahlia de Rolo, Leander knew it was mostly his own view that was faulty). But his beard still refused to come in properly, and the bindings he used for his chest were annoying at best. 

That last point actually, he would hopefully be able to take care of soon. With Pike's help they'd been able to find a temple that did not only offer magical means of healing or- the kind of transformation he was looking for. Unfortunately, the dispel sigils that were hidden all around the castle, meant to help against intruders, also made most kinds of magical transformation useless. It was easy to tell people not to carry magical weapons with them into certain corridors, not being allowed to walk them at all would have been something very different. Even True Polymorph didn't survive them, they'd tried. 

So, not wanting to be responsible for diminishing security measures, Leander had opted to try and find another solution. And now they had. It would leave scars, and maybe not yield a perfect result, but he had long since decided it would be worth it. 

Hopefully, it would quell his jealousy as well. At least a little. This feeling of shortcoming every time he made the mistake of comparing himself to them. Being short was bad enough. 

It would still be a few weeks before their first trip to that temple though, and in the meantime, the effects of the potions was all he had. At least those had given him enough confidence to grow his hair out again, into a proper elven hairstyle, the way he preferred it. At least people had stopped telling him he looked like his mother so much, as he'd done it. 

Realizing that he'd gotten lost in his thoughts for a while, Leander finally zoned back into the conversation in front of him. Whitney was currently telling Keyleth about the time last winter, when she'd rescued a small critter from freezing to death outside and had nursed it back to health in her room. She let out the part where all of her siblings had covered for her, trying to keep the damn thing undetected by their parents or any servants, but Keyleth's knowing smile told him she probably knew anyway. And Julius and Olivia were talking about weapons, of all things. 

Leander cleared his throat and got up, taking his empty tea cup with him. “If you'll excuse me, Mom asked me to look over some trading deals this morning, and I haven't gotten to that yet. Keyleth, would you like me to have a room arranged for you?” 

She looked up from her conversation with Whitney, seeming surprised at first, but then nodded. “Sure... I wasn't planning on staying this long, but it's not like I'm in a hurry to get back to Zephra yet.”

He nodded as well and then left, not really in the mood to join in any of their conversations at the moment. And if Keyleth wanted to talk, she would know where to find him. 

Admittedly, he got a bit lost in paper work once he was in his mother's study. They didn't include him into everything yet, and he was far from being allowed to make any decisions on his own, but they made sure to include him into the ruling of Whitestone as much as possible, glad that at least one child showed an interest in being on the Council eventually. 

Leander also knew that his aunt, Cassandra, had been responsible for these kind of things at an even younger age than he was now, and sometimes he wasn't sure if he should be insulted at his parent's protectiveness or just thankful that he had time to learn, instead of being thrust into this without any means of preparations. That he'd been allowed a childhood before ever even thinking about his first important meeting. 

It had been so exciting though, joining his parents there for the first time after he'd turned eighteen. None of the older members had questioned his presence, and despite the fact that he hadn't gotten a word out during the entire four hour discussion about the crop yield of the current year and whether or not they would need to import from Emon, he hadn't felt ignored either. Despite the perhaps rather dry topic, it had been a pleasant experience. And now he got to join them every week. 

Once again, he noticed that he'd drifted off. But this time, only because there was someone knocking on the door of the study. He risked a look at the clock, almost expecting it to be time for dinner already, and that someone had come to get him, but it was actually too early for that yet. “Come in,” he called, with slight confusion in his voice. 

His frown turned into a smile though when he saw Keyleth again, stepping into the room with him. “Hey there,” she greeted him softly. “You got some time to talk?”

“Sure, I'm not really getting anywhere with these anyway,” he told her truthfully, while clearing a small stack off papers off a second chair so she could sit down. 

“Hmm. You did seem a bit lost in your thoughts, even earlier in the library,” she told him, as the raven hopped down from her shoulder and into Leander's lap instead. 

He ran his fingers through the soft feathers, and smiled again as it seemed to nestle closer. 

“You know, I think they can tell when you're having a bad day,” Keyleth said softly. “Did you notice the ravens outside the window today?”

“No, I barely notice them anymore. Not unless I let them inside, or unless I'm out myself,” he muttered. “I do appreciate them though, always have.” 

Keyleth nodded, and reached out with one hand to gently run a finger along the raven's beak. It made a playful move towards her fingers, but she was quicker. “That's good. They can probably tell that as well. But I'm already getting off topic, the ravens aren't really the reason I came here.” 

“Then what is it?”

“First of all, I wanted to apologize.” 

His confusion returned at that, and he gave her a concerned look. “Apologize for what?”

Keyleth sighed softly. “I shouldn't have told you that I have something important to talk to you about, and then just leave it like that. We should have talked first, I still would have had enough time to spend with your siblings after that.” 

“Oh, no, please don't worry about that,” Leander insisted, as he attempted to wave her off. “I really don't mind.” 

“Even if you didn't, which I don't quite believe you, I shouldn't have done it. But we have time to talk now, if you want,” she told him. “Unless you would like to wait until after dinner, or whatever time would be more convenient for you.” 

“No, now would be fine.” He knew they didn't have too much time left until dinner, but he was too curious to wait any longer. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Well. You know the name 'Mighty Nein', right?” 

“Isn't that the adventuring group over in Wildemount? I think Allura has told a few of their exploits before.” 

Keyleth confirmed it with a nod. “I'm not sure how much you know about the war there, but Allura and the council of Emon did get invested in ending it. There's... a lot going on. Not really important right now though.” 

He raised an eyebrow at that, but let her keep talking. Whatever this was about, it sure sounded... interesting, to say the least. 

“What I'm trying to get at is,” she continued, “that there's a wizard in that particular adventuring party. Bright man, Allura had told me about him before, inventive, apparently.”

“Inventive? As in, he works on new spells?” From what Leander knew about arcane magic, which wasn't a lot, but he'd been bound to pick up a few things when his siblings had started to hone their powers, that wasn't an easy feat. Sure, it depended on what someone was trying to accomplish with it, but usually, those things took time. 

“I don't know a lot of specifics,” Keyleth admitted. “And I doubt that he was working on it completely by himself, but yes. The ravens told me about this new spell already a little over a year ago, but I didn't know how to get my hands on it, so I never brought it up. Until Allura contacted me today, after finding out about it from the wizard himself.” 

“Alright, but what does that have to do with me?” he asked, still not sure where this was going. “If it's something dangerous, shouldn't you talk to the council? Or, I don't know, at least other magic practitioners? Why are you telling me?”

“It's not dangerous!” she said quickly. “Or, at least I don't think it is. Sure, it could be used in a bad way, but that is true for most spells. Allura still tells me that even Sending can be abused, though I'm still not sure if I believe her on that one.”

Seeing his confused expression, she tried to get back on track. “Right, not important. The reason I am telling you, is because it is a very specific kind of transmutation spell. It's basically a more powerful version of Polymorph, but one that is absolutely permanent and can not be dispelled again.” 

They both fell silent for a moment, Keyleth obviously waiting for his reaction and Leander just- needing a moment to think. After all, how high were the chances of finding something like this after nearly having given up on it? After he'd already settled for something else, a less perfect solution, only to now have this dangled in front of him. 

“Is it- is it safe?” he finally asked, hating the way his voice started to tremble just the tiniest bit. He swallowed hard, hoping against hope this wouldn't turn out to be a mistake of some sort. 

“As far as I know, yes,” Keyleth told him gently, reaching out for his hand. “Only takes about an hour, the ingredients shouldn't be hard to come by, either. Allura even offered to do it, she wasn't sure if either Pike or I would be able to.”

“Okay, okay,” he muttered, more to himself. “Do you know when? I mean, if she offered that, why didn't she talk to me directly? Or to my parents, at least?”

“She's still in Wildemount herself at the moment, so her means of communication were a bit limited,” she explained. “Apparently she wasn't able to reach your parents via the magical mirror, using the emergency orbs seemed a bit overboard, and it was too much to get through in a simple Sending spell. So she contacted me.”

“That makes sense, I guess.” 

“If you find your parent's mirror, I'm sure she would be happy to talk to you personally.” 

He nodded, falling quiet again as he fell back in his chair. It was still a lot to process, he thought, as he started running his fingers through the raven's feathers once more. “I- I will do that. I think it's around here, somewhere, I should be able to find it.”

“Do you need a night to think about this?” Keyleth asked, her voice still gentle. 

“No, not really? It's- a weird feeling, like I want to do it immediately but also wait? I don't know.” He had this before, when he'd first started the potions. But the change had felt so utterly relieving, euphoric, even, once it started, that he hadn't thought much about it since then. Maybe being uncertain when faced with permanent change wasn't unusual, no matter how long you'd been looking forward to it. 

“Well, take all the time and preparations you need,” Keyleth replied, giving him a reassuring smile. “You know we're all there for you along the way.” 

He nodded, returning the smile in kind. “I know, and I'm thankful for that.” Then, after a brief pause, he continued. “Since you're staying the night now, and I'm really not sure when Mom and Dad will be back with Freddy and Johanna, do you think you could talk to Allura with me tomorrow? You know, just if they're not back in the morning?” 

“Of course. Hey, if you want me there, I'll be there. Even if your parents do make it back in time. It'll be okay, don't worry.” 

He chuckled softly, finally reaching up to wipe his eyes with one hand. He still teared up so easily. “I know, I know. And... yeah. I think I would like to have you there. I think that would be good.” 

She squeezed his hand once, making sure to keep eye contact. “Then I will be there. As long as you need me.” 

Leander nodded again, letting out a wet laugh as she finally got up and forced him out of his seat as well, drawing him into a tight embrace. He mumbled a heartfelt 'thank you' into her shoulder, just for Keyleth to squeeze him even tighter. And he was sure, no matter what the conversation with Allura would bring tomorrow, he'd be okay. 

He really, really would be.


End file.
